Monday’s blizzard-like conditions and severe cold produced the first snow day of the year for many, but not for all kinds of businesses that soldiered on. Mike Hensen checked how some coped.

Bad as Monday was, with swirling snow and biting cold that plunged to — 15C, it wasn’t nearly the worst-case scenario for the airport.

That notoriety belong to freezing rain.

“Airports hate freezing rain,” said Seabrook. “You get freezing rain on your runway and they become skating rinks. Plus, the freezing rain gets onto the control surfaces of the airplanes.”

Seabrook said the airport is ready for the kind of stuff Old Man Winter dished out Monday, with blowers and plows to keep the runways open and clear.

“When it’s this cold, the snow just blows off the planes — it doesn’t adhere at these temperatures,” he said.

Where: London Taxi

Who: Jihd Erafih, in the office

Customers who call in on a day like Monday are told their normal five- to 10-minute wait can run double or triple that, due to bad roads and heavy demand.

A snowstorm produces weather jitters that drive up business, said Elrafh. “You have customers that don’t want to drive to work, you have students that normally walk to classes.”

One thing to remember such weather? If cabs can’t get to where you are, on unplowed roads, don’t be surprised if you’re called back and asked to meet them where they can get through.

Where: White Oaks Mall

Who: Jeff Wilson, general manager

One of Southwestern Ontario’s busiest shopping centre, White Oaks — just like an airport or a big school — keeps its antennae tuned to trouble coming.

“We try to track the storm, try to be as prepared as possible, depending on what’s actually happening,” said Wilson.

With shopping dependent on clear parking lots, it’s no secret the mall gets early service from its snow-clearing contractors.

“We are a priority customer . . . it was all cleaned up before we opened this morning.”

The mall also brings in extra staff to clear and salt walkways before early shoppers arrive.

Where: London District Energy

Who: Sean Russell, plant manager

It’s hard to miss the downtown energy plant on a frigid day, with its steam clouds billowing.

More important, it’s maybe on the frostiest days of the year that the plant is the most crucial.

“The bottom line is we exist for these days — our equipment, our heating, our boilers, and our turbine that produces electicity, we exist to produce heat and electricity on these days,” said Russell.

With the extreme cold, the company — on its dime — asked all its workers to buy proper winter gear.

That, said Russell, is “because the staff are often working outdoors at clients’, and safety is our primary concern.”

Tuesday, with the expected daytime high in the deep freeze, it’ll be “all hands on deck,” he said.

Who: Greg Benko

Where: Centreline Sanitation

Understandably, perhaps, everything slows in the cold when you’re in the portable potty business.

But even to satisfy the most basic of needs, killer cold demands extra care and attention.

“We basically deliver porta potties and trailers, make sure people get (their business) done,” said Benko. In the severe cold, he said, that means adding special skirts to the portable johns and putting anti-freeze in the pipes to keep the water inside from freezing.

Snow: Put away the shovels, garage the snowblower. Environment Canada is calling for a mixture of sun and cloud Tuesday in London, with no snow in the forecast.

Cold: Break out the parkas. The mercury is expected to plunge to a bone-chilling –19 C, but with the gusting winds it’ll feel more like –39 C. The public health board has issued its second cold-weather alert of 2014, advising against outdoor activity, and set up warming centres across the city.

Schools: Western University cancelled classes for Tuesday, but it appeared late Monday that area elementary and high school kids, who had a snow day Monday, would be back in the classroom Tuesday.

Roads: All main roads and side streets should be plowed by Tuesday, the city says. Crews worked through the night.